Carcharodon megalodon
Megalodon was a prehistoric relative of today's Great White Shark, the biggest shark ever and the most fearsome predator ever. Its name means "Great Tooth". The tooth of a Mega lodon greatly resembles a present day Great White's, only a Megalodon's is much larger. Fossils The most common fossils of C. megalodon are its teeth. The diagnostic characters of C. megalodon''teeth include: triangular shape, robust structure, large size, fine serrations, and visible v-shaped neck. The teeth of ''C. megalodon can measure over 9 inches in slant height or diagonal length, and are the largest in size of any known shark species. Fossil vertebrae of C. megalodon have also been occasional ly found. The most notable example is a partially preserved but associated vertebral column of a single C. megalodon specimen, which was excavated from Belgium by M. Leriche in 1926. This specimen comprises 150 vertebral centra, with the largest centra being 1,55 cm in diameter. However, scientists have claimed that considerably larger vertebral centra can be expected from C. megalodon.[7] Interestingly, a partially preserved but associated vertebral column of another C. megalodon specimen was excavated from Gram clay, Denmark by Bendix-Almgeen in 1983. This specimen comprises 20 vertebral centra, with the largest centra being around 230 mm in diameter. Characteristics Megalodon's size averages from 52 feet to 67 feet. But the biggest ever are stated to be 82 feet. It's teeth were 9 inches long. It's jaw strength was 18.2 metric tons and it could swim at speeds of up to 35 mph. It had an endless selection of teeth, not unlike modern sharks. It's hunting is exactly like that of a Great White Shark, except Megalodon preyed on greater prey. Megalodon senses a lone whale, seperated from its pod. Megalodon picks up speed and tears off the fins of the Whale. He then waits for it to bleed to death. Then the Megalodon closes in on the corpse. In the Media Megalodons can be found in many cheap science fiction movies. The best know case of a Megalodon in a movie was in Shark Attack 3: Megalodon. In the movie sightings of a giant shark were witnessed around an island. The giant shark was found to be a juvenile Megalodon. Eventually the parent Megalodon was introduced into the film, but the film makers did not give the parent a constant size throughout the movie. Overall the film was very inaccurate on almost every aspect of a Megalodon. It was also in the movies Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus and Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, being shown inaccurately larger than in real life. It's made appearances in the documentaries Jurassic Fight Club, Prehistoric DC and Prehistoric Los Angeles, Sea Monsters, Prehistoric Predators, and had its own show called Sharkzilla during Shark Week on Discovery Channel. In the fifth movie of The Land Before Time a Megalodon was the first Sharptooth that was called a Swimming Sharptooth and broke the log Littlefoot and the gang were floating omn to get across the ocean. Gray, the main protagonist of E.J. Altbacker's Shark Wars book series is a Megalodon. Triva *Megalodon is the greatest predator ever. *Megalodon is probably the most famous prehistoric Sea Predator. *Megalodon appears in more Documentaries than any other Prehisotric Sea Creature. References Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01316/Megalodon.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080805-shark-bite.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20318175 http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/m/megalodon.html http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/tetrapodsandamphibians/p/megalodon.htm Documentaries: Sea Monsters Sharkzilla Jurassic Fight Club Prehistoric DC/Los Angeles Monster Quest Prehistoric Predators Books: Vertebrate Paleontology; Michael J. Benton Category:Prehistoric fish Category:Prehistoric sharks Category:Large Carnivores Category:Other Extinct Animals Category:Aquatic Creatures Category:Apex predators Category:Carnivores Category:Prehistoric Life Category:Giant Cenozoic animals